Canfield band delivers encore to mark turnpike’s 60th year

By SEAN BARRON

news@vindy.com

NEW SPRINGFIELD

When Ryan DiThomas makes his weekly forays to Cleveland to rehearse with the Cleveland Youth Orchestra, he normally doesn’t spend much time pondering the James W. Shocknessy Ohio Turnpike’s long history and origin.

But Thursday, his perspective changed radically.

“The traffic flows nicely and the road conditions are kept up well,” the Canfield High School senior and drum major said. “It offers excellent driving conditions.”

DiThomas also plays the oboe with the Canfield High Symphonic Band, whose members performed as part of a program near the turnpike’s Eastgate toll plaza off East Pine Lake Road to celebrate the highway’s 60th anniversary.

The Canfield High School band also performed to highlight when the 241-mile turnpike officially opened Oct. 1, 1955.

Speaking during the 30-minute outdoor ceremony were Randy Cole, the Ohio Turnpike Infrastructure Commission’s executive director; Jerry N. Hruby; OTIC’s chairman; Mahoning County Engineer Patrick T. Ginnetti; Tom Humphries, president and CEO of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber; and state Sen. Capri Cafaro of Liberty, D-32nd.

Cole noted the turnpike has generated more than $1 billion in infrastructure projects for communities in the 13 northern Ohio counties it runs through.

In addition to its 950 employees, the turnpike has thousands of construction workers as well as those affiliated with its 14 service plazas, he continued, adding that a 30-year program is underway to improve the road.

“The turnpike is an economic engine in northern Ohio communities,” Cole said.

Beginning in 2009, E-ZPass electronic toll-collection systems were installed, a move that has saved travelers millions of dollars, he noted.

The road and its service plazas are well-maintained and policed, said Hruby, who also is mayor of Brecksville, near Cleveland. He added that roughly 10,000 workers were needed to build the turnpike in the mid-1950s.

“It’s the cornerstone to our economic development,” said Cafaro, who serves on the state Senate’s transportation committee. “This is a wonderful day for our community, a wonderful day for the turnpike and a wonderful day for our economy.”

Calling the turnpike “the key ingredient for us for economic development,” Humphries said the thoroughfare is vital for moving goods and contributing to the area’s growth.

Ginnetti praised OTIC officials for working diligently and collaboratively with his office in an era of tight budgets and having to continually find alternate and creative funding sources for local projects.

Also honored during the program was 79-year-old Harlan Adkins of Ravenna, said to be the turnpike’s longest-employed toll collector.

“The traffic is smoother today, and the facilities are much better than they were,” recalled Adkins, who began his career in March 1965 and who works at Interchange 193.

Adkins, who works an average of 24 hours per week, said he was grateful to have been invited to the event and recognized for his service.

The program ended with an honorary ribbon-cutting, as well as an audio of Gov. Frank J. Lausche jubilantly ushering in the turnpike’s 1955 debut by saying, “Remove all barricades. Open the gates, and let the traffic flow!”